Key events
Preamble
Six years ago tomorrow, ten-man Aston Villa came from behind to win 2-1 at Rotherham and move up to fifth in the Championship. Jack Grealish scored the winner, Tyrone Mings was sent off and, in the words of the Villa manager Dean Smith, “John McGinn was so good I thought there were two of him”.
Mings, McGinn and millions of Villa fans have had a helluva ride since then, particularly since Unai Emery came to the club in 2022, and tonight they will play Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight of Europe’s greatest competition.
In historical terms it feels almost surreal – this is Villa’s first European Cup quarter-final since 1983 – but they are there entirely on merit. Emery has built an outstanding squad, never mind team, who have shown they can beat Europe’s finest. In the last year alone they’ve taken care of Arsenal, Manchester City and Bayern Munich among others; they are perfectly cast as the dangerous outsiders of this year’s competition.
Emery’s return to PSG, where he was manager from 2016-18, adds another layer of fascination to this game – as does Marco Asensio’s likely appearance against his parent club. Then there’s PSG’s newfound maturity; their performances against Liverpool in the previous round earned the instant and unequivocal respect of those who previously regarded PSG as a bit of a joke.
They are still unbeaten domestically and have just sealed the Ligue 1 title with six games to spare. Europe was trickier at first – PSG had only four points after five games of the league stage, but an exhilarating comeback against Manchester City was the catalyst for their emergence as serious contenders – favourites in fact – to win the competition.
If all that wasn’t enough to whet the appetite, Emi Martinez has brought his special baseball cap to Paris. This could be all sorts of fun.
Kick off 8pm.